The Portland daily press., 1887-03-10

1oce AZ A0o1 SA7,o79.uo III 1000 clio, l55.69 II
This comparison, Mr.. Libby pointed ont
showed that the expenses of the courts ha,
peen increasing while there had been
ulnllnuJion OF revenue One large source q
tne expense of the Municipal Court to tn,
county was the fees, as now allowed by law
These were as follows for the last thre,
| years:
Fees. 1884. 1885. 1885,
Court Fees. -. 81 ,652.O0 81 ,592s5 S2Iz5.Ii
Posting LIbels.... 1880 1,5i7.62 2.o43.o,
pTas,it;gs Rprawing Lbels. % 1880 1880 1921 .5l
In the last three years for court fees tn,
| S5,l34.l2; for drawing libels, S., $50 80; fol
executing eo order relating to libelled liquors
| 81, ,56650.
Mr.. Libby contended that these fees wer,
altogether too high, and he asked the com
mittee 70 take some way to relieve the coun
W On the case Of the fee for posting libels
ne laid the most stress. The Judge ma,
designate any person to post these li6els. III
Portland he designates the recorder. and
that oiticer, for the slight task of posting
Iw9 pD9;dp paper notices, one at the door of the
Follce Court room and the other in the
county end of the City Building. gets onf
dollar Tor each libel, a recompense out of ali
proportion to the time and labor EMPLOYED
therefore the bill before the committee
would cut that fee down to 25 cents, and
drawing
or making out the libels the fees 20 to the
officers who make the seizures and are by
them, II police officers, turned over to the
city. But 1t appeared by the testimony be-
lore the committee that the recorder makes
out the libels free of charge on blanks f,,r.
nished by the county, and that the Officer
VINO signs his name to each libel receives
therefor 90 cents. 70
For executing the order relating to forfeit
gu LIQUORS tne .ofiicer receives so cents, in
each case, but IT appeared that under the
law providing for turning over LIQUORS to
municipalities the execution was very sim
pie, consisting only of pointing out the pack
ages IN the store room to the Representative
OF o. tne city who disposed of the liquors. III.
II II. hicker's report, as printed in yesterdays
county commissioners thought that % cents
was ample compensation fer the duty of exc
cutting the order.
1t also. appeared, said Mr.. Libby. that
certain fees in libel cases, known as court
lees, had been taxed in certain cases and MI
tlmately reached the city treasury, although
the act OF 1879 required the recorder to paw
over all fees to the county treasurer These
the county commissioners thought, ,had been
Improperly imp .2s taxed and paid In addition to
ra, rlriS .le Guy receives from the county treas
urer each year from three to six thousand
dollars in witness and officers fees allowed
to the police. These the county commits
sioners did not ask to disturb.
Under the practice of the court Mr.. Lib
Dy concluded, in designating the recorder to
post the iioelS, large sums had been allowed
him yearly, in addition to his salary, which
the law provided should be in full for his
services, and which were claimed by him for
services not rendered in his capacity as re-
coruer. These sums amounted in the last
three years to $5134.12. Mr.. Libby gave il as
his opinion that with the police and deputy
sherlfts both enforcing the liquor law. the
number OF warrants were likely to be large
In the future, and continue a serious drain
on the county treasury, unless some remedy
was found. To remedy these difficulties, the
County Commissioners had offered the bill
before the committee, which reduced the
ices to what they deemed reasonable propor-
tions They believed that the recorder
should be paid reasonable salary for all
services performed by him, and that no fees
IN addition should be allowed. They ask
That the committee would adopt one of two
courses: either fix a salary in such sum as
they deemed reasonable, or to reduce the
lees so that the revenue of the Office should
not be excessive.
Judge Knight replied to Mr. Libby. He
neld that the state of affairs through which
tne recorder received so much for posting
nDeIs last year was exceptional, that in years
past IL mad been very moderate sum, and
tnat 1t was likely to be again. He also
showed that many cases are tried before the
municipal court, and declared that it was
very hard worked court The recorder was
very Important officer; and should be well
PAID. The fee of one dollar for posting the
@ iloeis was not all circumstances considered
excessive,he thought. To support his position
ne introduced County Attorney Seiders, Hon.
j. ID. Drnmmond and Hon. Wilbur +. .lIunt.
Ihey all thought that the system of fees was
al right Mr.. Drummond said the writing
Oh the recorders office was laborious task,
necessltating considerable clerical assist
ance: Judge Knight also introduced Lean
der Il. Cram, formerly a county commits.
Sloner, now deputy sheriff, who gave it as
MS opinion that one dollar was not large
lee Tor posting libels, and Iwho said he saw
no reason to make any change in relation to
the court fees now paid to the city.
No Bigger Salaries.
The bill to increase the salaries of legisla-
tors met speedy death in the House this
forenoon. Dickey, the father of the bill,
OBrien and Looney favored it, Mr. Looney
said that he favored the bill because he be-
lieved the salary should be large enough so
that poor men and good men could come
here. He did not believe that the Maine
Legislature should be modelled after the
British House of Commons, where the men,
Ders receive no pay and represent not the
people but corporations and landed interests.
Against the bill Messrs. Pattangall and Shaw
took up the cudgel. Mr. Shaw said 81 am
OF the. opinion that members of this house
are quite as well paid as the men who send
us here average to be. If may Judge from
the character and ability Of the men | see
around me on the floor of the House, Maine is
not now suffering for want of men of willing
ness TO I'LL these seats, and as know there are
at least dozen just as good men waiting for
each OF our places in the next House at the
same price the State will not lack for men in
the future. l move the indefinite postpone
ment of the bill.
Free School Books.
The bill to compel towns and cities to
furnish free text books was killed in the
House to-day, after Mr.. Fogg of Portland
and Mr.. Talbot Of East Machias, had spoken
against It,. The vote to indefinitely postpone
the bill was 56 to 80.
The Banks.
Mr.. Wiswell of Ellsworth, introduced the
following bill today, relating to investments
of Savings Banks:
Section 1.-Savings Banks and institutions for
savings may invest not exceeding ten per cent of
their deposits in bonds or notes secured by mort
Nebraska or the Territory of Dakota provided
that the payment of the principal and interest of
said and interest Of said notes bonds are guar
anteed by some Mortgage Loan, Investment or
Trust Company, which has an actual paidIup cash
capital of ut least S200,o00.
Another bill relating to banking was pre-
sente1 in the House by Mr. F0gg of Portland
This bill provides that the treasurer of every
savings bank of the State shall annually
deliver to the bank examiner sworn state
ment Of all depositors who have not touched
their deposits or added to them for 20 years,
and who are not known to be living.
The Coburn Estate.
The House decided to-day that If the State
took charge of the Coburn bequest to the
State College three per cent would be high
enough interest to pay. The finance COM
mittee originally named five per cent.
Wright, of Paris, made an able speech in
favor of the reduction.
The Industrial School for Girls.
1t has been decided finally that the ap-
preparation for the industrial school for girls
is to be S7.0O0